Masquerade
'''William Davis' was a criminal operating in New Gemini, a former associate of Dr. Ken Drake and an ally of the terrorist-criminal organization Black-Hand, who went by the coined name of Masquerade. He was amongst the first few villains the Icons had to face in New Gemini. William was originally an associate of Ken Drake, but after the latter discovered his criminal activities, he exposed the villain. Masquerade decided to take revenge, going on a killing spree in M.E.T.A. Labs and framing Jayden Stryker for the crimes. 6 months later, his activities were discovered by Energy, Prism and Krimson who ambushed him during a deal he had with Black-Hand. Ultimately escaping, Masquerade was murdered by Jayden Stryker, who now called himself Uprising, due to the former framing him months prior. __TOC__ Biography Early Life William Davis was born in Scotland. Nothing else is known about William's childhood or his youth. At some point during his adulthood, William became a criminal, black market dealer, weapons trader, identity thief, and an occasional ally of the terrorist-criminal organization Black-Hand, who were interested in his activities. William eventually moved into New Gemini prior to 2017, and decided to extend his criminal activities and connections through joining M.E.T.A. Labs, even becoming an associate of Dr. Ken Drake, the CEO of the technological giant. Criminal Activities Stealing Jayden Stryker's identity Unfortunately for William, Ken Drake was able to discover his façade as a criminal and true associate of Black-Hand, and promptly exposed William to the authorities. Barely managing to escape, William vowed to have his revenge on Drake, barging into M.E.T.A. Labs and stealing a technologically advanced mask, that allowed the user to transform his appearance into any person he touches. Becoming Masquerade, William came across an engineer in M.E.T.A. Labs called Jayden Strkyer, and pretended to accidentally bump into the man, in reality his mask absorbed Jayden's DNA, and added him to it's database. Disguising himself as Jayden, Masquerade promptly went on a brutal killing spree against most of Ken Drake's associates, escaping his crimes and pinning all blame on the real Jayden Stryker, framing him and causing him to get caught by New Gemini's police authorities, earning him the death sentence for over 26 counts of murder. Unbeknownst to Masquerade, as Ken Drake's particle accelerator exploded and engulfed New Gemini in dark matter, this transformed Jayden Stryker into the merciless and vengeful speedster Uprising, who escaped his execution and was presumed dead. Conflict with the Icons Days after the particle accelerator explosion in New Gemini, Masquerade continued on with his criminals activities within the city, at some point even taking the appearance of Ken Drake. However, his activities were noticed by a meta-human called Kenji Kenshin aka Blacklight. Kenji relayed this information to the most recent meta-humans Ben Stone and Jackson Elo. Despite this, Masquerade managed to keep his profile low on the radar. 6 months later, one of his acts of disguising himself as Ken Drake were put into light again by Ben Stone and Jackson Elo, as well as their new allies John Wilder/Krimson and John Doe/Chameleon. Seeking to find out who this "Fake-Drake" really was, the group infiltrated M.E.T.A. Labs, displacing the police blockade that occurred there to confront Ken Drake himself. The group discovered Masquerade stole a mask that can turn him into any person he touches, and Drake handed them a tracker to find him. Meanwhile, Masquerade was negotiating a new deal in a warehouse with an agent of the terrorist organization Black-Hand, the latter wanting to do it quickly before they were discovered. Unfortunately for them, the two were ambushed by Krimson, Energy and Prism. After a brief fight and shooting between the heroes, Masquerade and Black-Hand, Masquerade tackled Krimson and took his appearance. The group momentarily stunned, Masquerade used this advantage to successfully escape. Death Evading the sight of the heroes, Masquerade returned to his base in an abandoned lair, taking his wet jacket off. However, upon hearing a strange noise of lightning, Masquerade was instantly knocked into a wall by a metallic speedster. Soon enough, Masquerade got up, only to notice the flash of purple lightning stopped as the speedster grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Masquerade in the heart. Thanking him and declaring he was "finally free", the speedster ran away as Masquerade collapsed on the floor and died from his fatal wound. Personality William Davis, as Masquerade, was a ruthless, cruel and sadistic man, notably going on a brutal killing spree to mentally hurt Dr. Ken Drake as revenge for the latter exposing his criminals activities. Additionally, he displayed no remorse when dealing with his clients, notably shooting a fellow criminal in the head after he exchanged Masquerade information. Furthermore, Masquerade still displayed a moderate amount of respect to his criminal associates, notably to an agent of the criminal and terrorist organization Black-Hand when preparing a deal to give the agent black market weaponry. He also displayed a sense of hatred towards heroes and the authorities, and easily went to shoot them when confronted during his deal with Black-Hand. Despite all of this, Masquerade didn't care about death, accepting it when the malevolent speedster Uprising stabbed him in the heart as revenge for the former framing him, although he did display noticeable signs of fear when Uprising confronted him in his base. Abilities *'Expert hand-to-hand combatant:' Masquerade was a very formidable and skilled hand-to-hand combatant, able to battle and go toe-to-toe with meta-humans such as Energy, Prism and even the speedster Krimson, but was overpowered rather quickly due to their meta-human physiology, outnumbering the lone villain. Despite this, Masquerade can definitely hold his own during a fight. *'Expert marksman': Masquerade was a highly skilled marksman, capable of easily shooting one of his fellow criminals in the head and to shoot down enemy heroes during a meeting with Black-Hand. *'Expert infiltrator': Masquerade was highly skilled in infiltration and disguise, notably due to his experience with the Masquerade mask that allowed him to take the appearance of any person he touched. He was capable of easily infiltrating M.E.T.A. Labs under the forms of both Jayden Stryker and Ken Drake respectively, fooling the public that Jayden was the one responsible for Masquerade's own serial killings, and to even fool The Icons after he took the appearance of Krimson during a fight. *'Expert networker': Masquerade had good criminal connections within New Gemini and other cities, mostly with the terrorist-criminal organization Black-Hand, often working in league with them due to his efficiency with weapons trade and black market dealings. Equipment *'Masquerade mask:' Masquerade was always equipped with a technologically advanced mask created by M.E.T.A. Labs that allowed the user to take the appearance of any person he touches. This allowed Masquerade to disguise himself on numerous occasions, notably taking the appearances of Jayden Stryker, Ken Drake and Krimson. *'Silenced Glock 17:''' Masquerade used to carry around a silenced Glock 17 during his criminal activities, notably shooting a fellow criminal in the head with it, opening fire at enemy heroes, and his futile attempts to shoot the speedster Uprising. Relationships Allies *Black-Hand - occasional allies Enemies *The Icons **Ben Stone/Energy **John Wilder/Krimson *M.E.T.A. Labs **Dr. Ken Drake - former associate, exposer and hated enemy *Jackson Elo/Prism *Uprising - target for disguise and killer Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:Humans Category:Criminals Category:Serial killers Category:Deceased